A "friend" accidently wiped, using of all things, two poisen ivy leaves. Long story short, my "friend" was in a really bad way. (I'd be laughing hard right now, if I didn't see the rash for myself first hand)

It took us two days of driving, but we got there.

We brought him/her to the beach and had them soak in the ocean water for a half hour.

Tada! No more poisen ivy! It was completely healed the next day.

I stumbled on this trick as a child, when I got some on my hand. I went swimming in the ocean and noticed it cleared up miraculously the next day.

I can personally attest that the salt water in the Pacific Ocean does not cure the poison oak that one can get in California.

The poison in poison oak is a very sticky tarry substance. In large amounts it appears black. It is sticky beyond belief and transfers. Water, warm water, and the wrong kinds of soap just move it around and affect more skin.

I've found Technu products work quite well.

Last edited by SpiderSavage on Wed Jul 22, 2009 8:32 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Initially washing in cold water can help because it tends to close the pores in the skin.

The 'poison' in poison oak is called urushiol oil.

Once you have the itching and rash (2 or 3 days later), pretty much the only thing that helps is time .. takes about a week and a half or so for it to go away.

For minor cases I take a homeopathic remedy made by Hyland's to help with the itching and oozing. Some people say they take this stuff prior to PO-laden trips to build up a temporary immunity, but I haven't tried that...

If I have a really big rash, then I apply some topical hydrocortisone creme like Corticool for temporary relief. If it's really bad, your doctor can give you prednisone.

Iteresting reads alla round. Here are some basics on what I understand about poison Ivy:

-The plants secrete urushiol oil, which gets on your skin, and whater cannot take it off.
-It does not burn you, and is "kinda-technically" not checmically toxic, in that it it doesn't reall do anything to you.....
-"It doesn't do anything to you", you do something to it. The rash is an allergic reaction, and some lucky bastards aren't allergic to it.

So, knowing this, and that I react to it: when I get the first sign, I reach for the first degreaser I can find and head to the shower. Bleach works, but sucks. orang clean, scrubbing bubbles, etc etc, will all take the oil off. After the oil is gone, it's up to your own body to stop reacting.

It's an oil, so it's not water-soluble. Lots of scrubbing with ordinary soap and hot water will basically work, but not as well as some of the specialty soaps on the market. Your skin is sensitive to incredibly tiny amounts of this stuff, so just removing most of it just isn't good enough.

After the oil is gone, it's up to your own body to stop reacting.

That's where strong astringents come in. Jewelweed sap is a great example.

In the absence of jewelweed, you can try tannins: make a poultice from oak bark or fir bark or witch hazel bark [many other plants work too]).

My theory is that salt water has an astringent-like effect. The alternative theory would be some kind of catalysis/reaction involving trace minerals in seawater (zinc or copper, maybe?). I think I know how to do a controlled experiment (won't be even single-blind though), stay tuned.

The first time I ever had a major case of Poison Oak, it seemed to last forever. I was living in a communal household with a dog who would get out and run around in the huge Poison Oak plants in the hills of Santa Cruz. I remember jokingly straddling the dog, a Great Dane mix, while wearing shorts.

I developed a horrible rash on my inner thighs that crept upward slowly. I also had a rash on my hands, wrists, nose, neck and ears. The rash would not go away even though I washed everything I had and used Tech-Nu constantly. It was so bad I could hardly walk.

After over a month of no sleep and general agony, a friend told me to get into the ocean. I did. The rash started healing noticeably the next day and went away soon after. I don't think the salt water removed the oil, that was long gone, but it seemed to have some kind of healing, anti-inflammatory property. It seemed to calm down my immune system in just the right way.

Alcohol wipes help if you use them right away. Other solvents can also remove the oil. Once it gets absorbed into the skin, I am told that it reacts with the skin cells which then reproduce a compound similar to it (like a prion does). This is why it lasts so much longer than other allergies; you need to shed the skin cells that are producing the other compound (or remove them with abrasion). Salt water does seem to help (maybe by drying up the skin).